“Parents were
buying flak jackets and sending them to sons and daughters in Iraq because
soldiers were using outdated vests. To this day, thousands of men and women
still don't have Interceptor vests, a high-tech model that has saved the lives
of soldiers shot in the chest with AK-47 bullets.” [“Troops Pay
Price As Military Skimps” Los
Angeles Times 12/7/03]

“Many
of our troops are listening tonight. And I want you and your families to know…my
administration, and this Congress, will give you the resources you need
to fight and win the war on terror.

"’It's shocking,’
says George Washington Law School Professor Jonathan Turley, who exposed the
shortage of high-grade flak jackets more than two months ago in an [October]
opinion piece for The [Los Angeles] Times. Since then, Turley has been under
siege, having lost count of the number of private citizens offering money
for the purchase of vests the military has failed to provide.” [“Troops Pay
Price As Military Skimps” Los
Angeles Times 12/7/03]

Bush’s
White House tried to cut the combat pay of troops in Iraq and Afghanistan but had to
backpedal due to public outrage. “The Pentagon's support for the idea of
rolling back "imminent danger pay" by $75 a month and ’family
separation allowances’ for the American forces by $150 a month collapsed after
a story in The Chronicle Thursday generated intense criticism from
military families, veterans groups and Democratic candidates seeking to unseat
President Bush in 2004.”[“Troops in danger zone no longer face pay cut” San
Francisco Chronicle8/15/03]

"What message does it send to our veterans when the
Administration says American taxpayers can afford to build new hospitals in
Iraq, but we cannot afford to keep open veterans hospitals here at home?”
Congressman Chet Edwards (D-TX)

While President
Bush has photo ops at Walter Reed Hospital, “[h]undreds of sick and
wounded U.S. soldiers including many who served in the Iraq war are languishing
in hot cement barracks here while they wait-sometimes for months-to see doctors.”[“Sick, wounded U.S. troops held
in squalor” UPI
10/17/03]

“The
Bush Administration formally opposed giving members of the National Guard and
Reserves access to the U.S. military’s health insurance system. … A recent
General Accounting Office report estimated that one out of five Guard
members has no health insurance.”[“Health plan
for Guard opposed” Gannett
News Service /The Olypian
10/23/03]

The
Bush Administration actively opposed $1.3 billion in funding for emergency
health care funding for veterans in the 2004 budget.
(It passed over the president’s objections.)Steve
Robertson, legislative director for the American Legion said “Democrats
have … supported the veterans’concerned at
a much louder rate than Republicans.” [Democrats
fight for veterans’ votes, Detroit
News, 12/27/03]

“Many
veterans have observed that the government seemed to work a lot more
efficiently when it wanted something from them. When the Draft Board
got your file, it worked efficiently. (Laughter.) But
now, when you need health care, forms get lost and answers come
late. That is no way to treat America's veterans, and that is going
to change.”
George
W. Bush

“[R]etirees
may be asked to pay $10 - up from the current $3 - for each 90-day generic
prescription filled by mail through Tricare, the military’s health insurance
program. Tricare’s current $9 co-pay for a three-month supply of each
brand-name drug would jump to $20. The proposal also would impose charges for
drugs the retirees now receive free at military hospitals and clinics. There
would be a $10 fee for each generic prescription and a $20 charge for brand
name drugs dispensed at those facilities.” [“Drug fees for military
retirees may be raised” Virginia
Pilot, 1/1/03]

“Sen.
John McCain (R-Ariz.)…said … that overwhelming majorities in both houses passed
a version of the ’concurrent receipt’ provision out of basic fairness. Disabled
veterans should be able to receive military retirement benefits and VA
disability benefits without an offset, he said, because retirement pay is for
length of service and disability compensation is for pain and suffering
incurred in uniform.”

“The pension
provision would for the first time allow military retirees to collect
retirement benefits from the Pentagon and disability benefits from the Veterans
Administration at the same time. Proponents call this ‘concurrent
receipt.’"

(Veterans who
are 60% or more disabled qualify for disability, but their military pensions are
cut dollar for dollar for any disability payment they receive. Concurrent
receipt means the injured veterans would be allowed to keep their pensions in
addition to any disability payment, just as other government workers are
allowed to do.)[“Bush threatens
veto of defense bill” Washington Post,
10/7/02]

“The Bush administration is seeking
to block a group of American troops who were tortured in Iraqi prisons during
the Persian Gulf War in 1991 from collecting any of the hundreds of millions of
dollars in frozen Iraqi assets that they won last summer in a federal court
ruling against the government of Saddam Hussein.”

The San Francisco Chronicle reported “In a
sworn court filing in the case for the former prisoners, Paul Bremer, the American
administrator in Iraq, said the money won by the former prisoners had
already been "completely obligated or expended" in reconstruction
efforts.
These funds are critical to maintaining peace and stability in Iraq.” [“U.S. fights GIs’
award for Iraqi torture; frozen funds intended for rebuilding” San
Francisco Chronicle 11/10/03]

The
Disabled American Veterans Organization“It is clear that
veterans are not a national priority to this administration, and the
President’s budget plan attempts to shift the burden for funding veterans
health care to those brave men and women who have served and sacrificed for our
country. It is utterly disgraceful to shortchange America’s veterans at a time
when this government has placed so many of our troops in harm’s way in the war
on terror, considering that many of them will need VA medical care for decades
tocome.” (February 4,
2004)

Vietnam
Veterans of America“The budget proposed
by the President for veterans health care for the next fiscal year is not only
inadequate, it's an insult to veterans. It represents a clear-cut case of
misplaced priorities. The same budget that calls for generous funding to wage
war ignores the real needs of those who return from the war zone, and will
impose undue hardship on them.” (February 4, 2004)

“I come here
every day. It’s better than any other VA hospital I’ve been to. I went through
a lot ... and the only thing I wanted to know was that they were going to care
for me when I came home.”Thomas Greene, 52, disabled Army Ranger, Two Tours in Vietnam

World War II veterans Joe Burton, of
Monroeville (left), and Fred Flate, of Washington County, listen to a speaker
Saturday at a rally to protest the VA's decision to close the Highland Drive
VA hospital at the facility in East Liberty.
James Knox/Tribune-Review

John Wallace, a veteran and 28-year employee
of the Oakland VA hospital, bows his head during the opening prayer at a
rally to protest the planned closure of the Highland Drive VA hospital.
James Knox/Tribune-Review

"While the
President is praising troops in one breath, his Administration tries to cut
their combat pay in another. While heralding veterans, the Republicans in
Congress shortchange veterans' health care by $1.8 billion. While
Republicans pretend to oppose the tax on disabled veterans, they refuse to join
Democrats in repealing it. No eligible veteran should be excluded, and all
should have this unreasonable tax lifted. The men and women who are serving or
have served their country deserve no less."

Democrats Fight for Veterans Health Care
Democrats Fight for Veterans Health Care
Senator Bob Graham
(D-FL) sponsored the law that allows Congress to review for 60 days the
Secretary of Veterans Affairs recommendation on the hospital closing
recommendations.The 60-day review period will begin after Principi makes
his decision on the CARES recommendations. Democratic Senator Bob Graham to
pass this important bill in November 2003. Of the nine Senatorial co-sponsors,
eight were Democrats. [“Bill Summary & Status for the 108th Congress” S.1283]

“In a Veterans Day speech,
Taylor, D-Miss., suggested that creating a University of Southern Mississippi
teaching school would keep the 92-acre campus open. The Gulfport veterans
hospital is one of five divisions of the VA Gulf Coast Veterans Health Care
System, which stretches from Gulfport to Panama City, Fla. “[T]he Gulfport
hospital already hosts medical residency programs for Tulane University and the
University of South Alabama.”

The Gulfport unit houses
125 patients in a psychiatric unit and has a 56-bed dementia unit. The state's
only medical school is at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in
Jackson [which is four hours north of the Mississippi Gulf Coast].[“Rep.
Taylor proposes USM teaching hospital on coast” The Sun-Herald
November 2, 2003]

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton: VA Hospital Plan ‘Deeply Flawed’
Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton: VA Hospital Plan ‘Deeply Flawed’
“I believe that
the Draft National CARES Plan and the process used to develop it are deeply
flawed. The Plan has not adequately taken into account the impact of these
proposals on long term care, domiciliary care and mental health services.
Moreover, this Commission and the Department of Veterans Affairs have not
allowed veterans a meaningful opportunity to participate in the overall CARES
process. The Department of Veterans Affairs needs to go back to the drawing
board and develop its plan through a fair process that takes into account all
relevant factors and allows veterans to fully participate in the plan's
development.”
[“Senator Clinton Testifies Before VA Cares Commission to Oppose Closure of
Canandaigua VA Hospital” Office of
Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton October 20, 2003]

The Democratic budget provides
$1.3 billion more than the Republican budget for veterans programs for 2005 and
$6.6 billion more over five years. Though House Republicans may tout the fact
that their budget contains more veterans appropriations than the President’s
budget, the Republican budget still provides $1.3 billion less than what the
Veterans’ Affairs Committee recommended — on a bipartisan basis — for these
vital veterans health care programs.

Committee on Veterans AffairsThe
Committee on Veterans Affairs – on a bipartisan basis -- recommended $2.5
billion more than what the Bush budget provided for maintaining maintain vital
veteran health care programs. Nevertheless, the House Republican budget
provides $1.3 billion less than what the Committee recommends for 2005. The
Democratic budget provides the full Committee-recommended level of $32.3
billion for 2005
AND includes $6.6 billion more than the Republican budget over the next five
years.

The Democratic budget ·improves access
and reduces waiting time for all veterans·meets statutory
requirements for long-term care by increasing the current number of nursing
home beds to 1998 levels·reduces or
eliminates the increased co-payments ($135 million) and enrollment fees ($268
million) proposed in the Bush budget·increases funds
for medical facility construction and renovation and provides necessary
resources for responsive reviews of claims and appeals.

Bush Budget Endangers
Veterans’ Health Care

Failure to match the recommendation of
the Committee on Veterans Affairs will make it very difficult for the VA to
meet the cost increases of expected changes in health care utilization of its
enrollees, or to meet current payroll, inflation and non-discretionary workload
adjustments. This could be the difference between treating 170,000 unique
veterans, or, alternatively, paying the salaries of 13,000 VA staff needed to
treat veterans. [Fact
Sheets for House Consideration of the 2005 Budget House
Budget Committee Democratic Caucus March 23, 2004]

On
September 11, 2001, America was again struck by a surprise attack from a hidden
enemy, and again we paid a terrible price. This time, however, the President's
response was very different. Where President Roosevelt sought answers,
President Bush has sought to avoid blame, repeatedly stonewalling the 9/11
Commission and Congressional efforts to understand intelligence mistakes
leading up to September 11th. The Bush Administration has not even completed
the National Intelligence Review mandated at the beginning of the
Administration.
Nor has the Bush Administration taken the necessary steps to improve homeland
security by making our ports safer. Read the Full Plan

This nation made a sacred covenant with
those it drafted and those who enlisted, but the truth is that every day in
America the treatment of too many veterans is breaking that covenant. For John
Kerry, the fight continues. He will deliver health care and prescription
drugs veterans need. He will grant full concurrent receipt to disabled
veterans and fairly compensate soldiers and their families for their valiant
service. This is about keeping America’s promise, it is about national obligation
-- and, it is about love of country and the help and honor we owe to those who
defend it.

The Bush Administration chronically
under-funds VA health care. Nearly 90,000 veterans are waiting for
healthcare appointments. Instead of adding sufficient resources to the VA
system, President Bush has frozen whole classes out of it. ,By the Bush
Administration’s own estimate, their policies will exclude approximately
500,000 veterans from the VA healthcare system by 2005. President Bush also
proposed increasing fees and co-payments in an effort to shift the burden for
care onto the backs of veterans, dropping an additional million veteran from VA
health care. John Kerry will stop playing politics with veterans health care
funding. He insists on mandatory funding for veterans health care. With
President Kerry, veterans will get the appointments they need with VA doctors
and the federal government will ensure no veteran’s health care need is unmet.

George Bush Has
overstretched the U.S. Military. The Bush administration compensates by using
the National Guard and Reserve. Reservists are overburdened and may leave the
military in large numbers.

John
Kerry will reduce the strain on the military. He calls for a temporary increase
of about 40,000 active-duty Army troops. About 20,000 of the troops will
be in specialties such as military police and civil affairs, currently and
predominantly found in the Reserves. The other 20,000 would be combat troops.
Kerry’s proposal will be budget neutral because he will streamline some large
weapons programs, reducing the total amount of money spent on missile defense.
More emphasis will be put on electronics, advanced sensors and munitions.

Under George Bush, 280,000
veterans await their disability rating and 108,000 other veterans waiti to hear
back on appeals of rating decisions. John Kerry will streamline the VA so
veterans hear about their status and receive benefits in a timely manner.

We need to treat our troops
and their families with respect, dignity, and fairness in what they are paid,
where they live, and where their children go to school. We need to make
sure our troops are paid enough to increase retention and enlistment. We
should improve active duty housing for soldiers and their families. As
someone who has led the fight on Gulf War Illness, John Kerry knows we have to
be aggressive on health screenings for our troops. These screenings - not
being currently done -- are required by law. John Kerry will bolster
Family Assistance Centers and Programs on every military base to provide
information and services to families of deployed, wounded, or killed service members.

John Kerry and Senator John
McCain chaired the country's most thorough investigation into the fate of
POWs/MIAs in Southeast Asia. Kerry personally pressed Vietnamese officials to
cooperate in ongoing efforts to get answers for families and also sponsored
POW/MIA Recognition Day. Kerry's Senate committee pressed for unparalleled
declassification of documents, increased excavation work in Vietnam, and
gathered testimony from 144 witnesses. According to the Boston Globe,
"the effort produced real answers for the some 120 families who had lived
for decades without knowing whether a loved one was still alive in Southeast
Asia."

Studies estimate more than
30 percent of homeless men in America are veterans. In 2001, Kerry worked to
pass the Heather French Henry Homeless Veterans Assistance Act,
an ambitious effort to completely end homelessness among veterans. Kerry will
work to make sure veterans have the support they need to find housing and jobs
as well as the social support they deserve.

John Kerry will provide
mortgage insurance to National Guard and Reservists called to active duty.
This will ensure that service members who have to take a cut in pay don’t
have to worry about losing their homes while serving our nation.

More
than one-third of Reservists and National Guard members suffer a pay cut when
called to duty. Many of these military service members are professionals with
families. Unlike big businesses that can provide supplemental income,
most small businesses can’t afford to provide this benefit. With tax
credits for small businesses, John Kerry can ensure steady income for National
Guard and Reservists’ families.

Kerry
supports legislation to provide access to TRICARE for military reservists. This
improves readiness of reservists called to active duty and provides care for
their families without disruptions. For families that do not live near a
TRICARE provider, or that have children or special medical needs, it may be
impractical to use a TRICARE provider. In these cases, Kerry supports
allowing reservist families to keep their civilian insurance through COBRA.

In 2003, the Bush
Administration opposed increasing the death gratuity - from $6,000 to $12,000
-- paid to families of those who die in action. John Kerry supports increasing
the death benefit and making the payment tax-free. He
supports restructuring compensation provided to surviving families by mandating
$250,000 non-taxable life insurance plans for all service members and
eliminating all soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines serving in harms’ way,
the obligation to pay individual premiums. He will fight to provide surviving
spouses of service members killed-in-action with one year of military pay
equal to what would have been earned and permitting surviving spouses and
children of service members killed-in-action to remain in military housing for
one year after the death of their spouse.

“We have a sacred obligation to do our part for those who have
borne the burdens of battle. This is about the character of our nation and who
we are as a people; it is about keeping America's promise, about love of
country, and the debt we owe to those who defend it.”